There is further evidence of the success of rehabilitation and claims management services offers by GIP providers, with Unum reporting that more than 95 per cent of those accessing this service returned to work.
The percentage of claimants using this service who remained in or returned to work after a sickness absence has increased year on year between 2016 and 2020 – rising from 89 per cent to 95.1 per cent over this period
Statistics published by Unum show the changing nature of claims in response to the coronavirus pandemic, with around 50 per cent of referrals to this rehabilitation service last year being the result of mental health concerns.
In total there were 1,711 referrals over the last year for a range of health conditions.
This data comes after L&G published its own figures on the number of policyholders returning to work after accessing rehab services.
Unum offers an in-house rehabilitation service, providing access to a range of medical professionals, including doctors, psychiatrists, physiotherapists and occupational health professionals.
The company said it has adapted its rehabilitation and wellbeing services in response to the Covid pandemic. New initiatives have included the 1-2-1 Wellbeing Check, which offers support for employees facing challenges working from home.
It has also seen far greater take-up of its health and wellbeing app, Help@hand, which allows members to book digital GP appointments, mental health treatment, physiotherapy, and access medical second opinion services and employee assistance programmes. In total Unum said it had booked 12,000 appointments across these different services.
Unum’s head of claims, rehab and medical services Paula Coffey says: “Unum is proud of its claims, rehabilitation and medical services. The scale of our operations mean we can achieve positive outcomes for employees covered by one of our policies.”
She adds: “Meanwhile, we’ve also been here for employers during the pandemic, helping companies across the UK, whether that’s with their return-to-work strategies, or supporting line managers and HR teams.
“More than 15,000 people attended our wellbeing courses in 2020, 93 per cent of whom rated them as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. Helping employers as well as employees means we’ve been able to address pandemic-related concerns in the round, which we feel has achieved better outcomes for all policyholders and their employees during what was a very difficult year for everyone.”
